Dozens of players indicted by FBI in widespread point-shaving scheme
Nov 4, 2025; Lubbock, Texas, USA; A general view of the game ball in the first half during the game between the Lindenwood Lions and the Texas Tech Red Raiders at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-Imagn ImagesIan SacksThu, January 15, 2026 at 7:52 PM UTC·2 min read
Federal prosecutors charged 26 current and former men’s basketball players with fixing and attempting to fix at least 29 college basketball games in one of the biggest gambling schemes in college athletics history.
The indictment listed 17 former players, including 15 who played in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons as well as a few who participated in games this season.
The group of current players included Kennesaw State’s Simeon Cottle (20.2 ppg), Delaware State’s Camian Shell (8.0 ppg), Eastern Michigan’s Carlos Hart (13.1 ppg) and Texas Southern’s Oumar Koureissi (4.9 ppg). Cottle was the Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year. They have each played within the last week. Hart, Shell and Koureissi were charged for allegations at previous schools.
Per Jeff Borzello, Kennesaw State announced Cottle has been suspended indefinitely, and Eastern Michigan has suspended a “current student-athlete” from all team activities.
The list of schools involved are the following:
“This was a massive scheme that enveloped the world of college basketball,” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said Thursday morning at a press conference in Philadelphia. “This was a significant and rampant corruption of college athletics.”
According to the 70-page indictment, the scheme began back in September 2022 with alleged illegal gambling activity with the Chinese Basketball Association. Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley were charged as the main conspirators as they recruited mid- and low-major players to fix games.
Authorities said the players, who were not making substantial NIL money, accepted between $10,000 and $30,000 to alter the outcomes of games for sports betting purposes.
Some of the bets placed include $458,000 for NC A&T to lose against Towson; $424,000 on Kent State to cover a first-half spread vs. Buffalo; $275,000 for Southern Miss to not cover a first-half spread against South Alabama; and $256,000 for Robert Morris to also not cover in the first half against Northern Kentucky.
“Protecting competition integrity is of the utmost importance for the NCAA,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said a statement released shortly after the indictment. “We are thankful for law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and match manipulation in college sports. The pattern of college basketball game integrity conduct revealed by law enforcement today is not entirely new information to the NCAA.”
The indictment also listed former New Orleans players Cedquavious Hunter and Dyquavian Short. Both of them were included in an NCAA investigation back in November into illegal gambling and/or game-manipulation activity. Back then, the NCAA said their cases as well as the others included then were unconnected.
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